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We were the international Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault (JCASA); and were dedicated to ending sexual violence in Jewish communities globally. We did our best to operate as the make a wish foundation for Jewish survivors of sex crimes. In the past we offered a clearinghouse of information, resources, support and advocacy.

Friday, December 06, 1985

Case of Israel Goluboff

Case of Israel Goluboff

(AKA: Lester Guloboff, Lester Mor)

Whiting, NJ

Convicted in Essex County (NJ) in 1985 of aggravated sexual assault on a girl under the age of 13. He has served his time and is considered a Tier 2, or moderate-risk, sex offender by the state of New Jersey. According to his listing on the State Police sex offender Web site, he had victimized children who worked with him in his caricature sketching business.

A registered sex offender was a vendor at the Ocean County Fair last week and has a booth at the Monmouth County Fair this week, and is within his rights in operating his business, authorities said.

But the director of the Ocean County freeholders said the state should change the law regarding sex offenders to better protect children from pedophiles. And Monmouth County officials said they will consider performing background checks on prospective fair vendors and possibly ride operators.

Israel Goluboff, 77, of the Whiting section of Manchester was convicted in Essex County in 1985 of aggravated sexual assault on a girl under the age of 13. He has served his time and is considered a Tier 2, or moderate-risk, sex offender by the state.

Goluboff, who uses the name Lester Mor in his business, said Wednesday that he had served six years at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in the Avenel section of Woodbridge. According to his listing on the State Police sex offender Web site, he had victimized children who worked with him in his caricature sketching business.

"That was so long ago. I'm not a pedophile. I'm not interested in kids," said Goluboff, sitting in his booth shortly after the Monmouth County Fair opened at East Freehold Park, Freehold Township. The fair continues through Sunday.

Goluboff is a caricaturist and rented an open air booth at both county fairs to sell impromptu drawings of patrons.

"It was a mistake many years ago. I've been working at fairs and shows for years up and down the East Coast and have never had a problem. I travel all the time," Goluboff said. "If I don't do this for a living, I'll be on welfare."

Goluboff pointed out that his wife is part of the business and she is with him at the fairs.

Megan's Law explained

Vera Kahlert, an assistant Ocean County prosecutor who supervises the county's Megan's Law unit, explained that local police departments report to the county regarding registered sex offenders.

"There is nothing in Megan's Law that allows us to condition where an offender lives or works," Kahlert said.

Megan's Law is the state statute on community notification of convicted sex offenders, named after Megan Kanka, a 7-year-old Mercer County girl who was raped and murdered by a convicted sex offender in 1994.

The law ranks sex offenders in three tiers: Tier 3 contains the most dangerous offenders, and Tier 1 the least dangerous. Goluboff is ranked in Tier 2. As Kahlert explained, the law is not meant to be punitive or an extension of imprisonment, probation or parole.

"The law is intended as a system of notification of possible risk to the community," Kahlert said.

Goluboff said Monmouth County Fair officials did not ask him about his criminal record.

Bruce A. Gollnick, assistant director of the Monmouth County Park System, which administers the fair, said four staff members are assigned to manage the fair's many vendors and one staffer is assigned to the ride operators.

"We don't do criminal background checks, but it's something that we could possibly familiarize ourselves with, find out what we can and can't do, and look into," Gollnick said.

Gollnick said the information about Goluboff would be relayed to the Freehold Township Police Department, which supplies security at the fair. The county also assigns many of its park rangers to the fairgrounds.

"We'll alert everybody that this has come to our attention," Gollnick said.

Background checked

A spokeswoman for the Ocean County Fair Committee said the organization was aware of Goluboff's status, but decided that it could not deny renting him the space.

"We did a background check, saw that he was a Tier 2 offender and contacted the Berkeley police, who serve as our security force at the fair," said Kitty Meyer, wife of fair committee chairman O.J. Meyer.

Meyer said the committee spoke with local law enforcement two or three years ago, when Goluboff first applied to do business at the fair, and were informed that he could not be banned from the fair, "since he had the same right to work as anyone else," she said.

Under Megan's Law, the sex offender is required to register with the police department in the town in which he lives, and to notify the police if he changes jobs or moves. The local police then inform the prosecutor's office.

Joseph Vicari, Ocean County freeholder director, said that the state Legislature needs to revisit Megan's Law.

"State legislators need to think this matter through and come up with a unified set of enforcement regulations regarding sex offenders," Vicari said. "If there is doubt whether someone is rehabilitated, then we should err on the side of caution and keep the offender locked up. Children go everywhere. We must protect them from pedophiles."

No law in New Jersey prohibits Israel Goluboff, a registered Tier 2 sex offender, from plying his trade of caricaturist at county fairs. But that will change soon if certain state legislators from the Shore area have their way.

Goluboff, 77, of the Whiting section of Manchester, was convicted in Essex County in 1985 of aggravated sexual assault on a girl under age 13. He served six years at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Woodbridge and is on the state's Megan's Law Web site.

Last week, Goluboff rented a booth at the Ocean County Fair in Berkeley, selling paintings and caricatures.

This week, he did the same thing at the Monmouth County Fair in Freehold Township. But after his past became public knowledge, he did not appear at the fair Thursday.

"He's no longer at the 2005 Monmouth County Fair," Monmouth County Park System spokeswoman Laura Kirkpatrick said, declining to comment further

Freeholder William Barham said at Thursday's meeting that a county parks official spoke to Goluboff earlier in the day and the two arrived at an "amicable" decision that Goluboff would leave the fair.

"That should put people's minds at ease," he said.

Barham would not identify the parks employee who spoke to Goluboff, other than to say the person was "in the hierarchy." The vendor's fee was refunded, Barham said.

Bills in the hopper

According to his listing on the State Police sex offender Web site, Goluboff, who works under the name Lester Mor, had victimized children who worked with him in his caricature sketching business. Tier 2 is the mid-level ranking for sex offenders, with Tier 3 being those considered at greatest risk of repeat offenses.

Goluboff told the Asbury Park Press Wednesday that he's been working at fairs up and down the East Coast for years without incident. Megan's Law, the statute requiring sex offenders to register with police where they live, does not limit a person's right to work.

But Goluboff will no longer be permitted to peddle his goods at county fairs in New Jersey if a bill introduced in June by state Sen. Andrew R. Ciesla, R-Ocean, becomes law.

"We cannot have the fox guarding the henhouse," Ciesla said. "The most heinous crimes are perpetrated against children. Therefore, we have to do all we can to protect them."

Barham also said he is asking the county's legal department to research whether the county can ask potential vendors at future fairs whether they have been convicted of a crime.

Ciesla's bill (S-2610) would prohibit anyone convicted of a sexual offense against a person under 18 from working on frozen dessert trucks or in amusement parks.

Ciesla said he is having the state Office of Legislative Services study his bill to determine if county fairs would fall into the latter category. If it doesn't, "we'll ask for an amendment to the bill" to include them, Ciesla said.

Fairgoers' opinions

Wall resident Scott Schleuss said he'd support Ciesla's move to ban registered sex offenders from working at fairs.

"I don't think they should be allowed to work in general-public jobs," said Schleuss, 41, as he visited the Monmouth County Fair with his daughters, ages 3 and 6.

Ron Kudile had similar thoughts as he entered the fairgrounds late Thursday afternoon.

"I have a concern . . . but (registered sex offenders) still have a right to work," said Kudile, of the Lincroft section of Middletown. "But they should probably be restricted to places where they don't have access to young children."

"We won't be going to that booth with our children," interjected his wife, Carey Fox, 49.

Ciesla's fellow 10th District legislators, state David W. Wolfe and James W. Holzapfel, both R-Ocean, plan to introduce an identical child protection bill in the Assembly in September.

In addition, Assemblyman Sean Kean, R-Monmouth, said he's drawing up a bill, also for introduction this September.

"Parents should be able to take their children to the fair or boardwalk without having to worry that they may be inadvertently exposing their children to sexual predators," Kean said.

Kean said his bill will bar sex offenders from holding jobs that put them in close contact with children, such as at fairs and amusement parks, on ice cream trucks, and at boardwalk concessions and rides.

Goluboff said he made a mistake over 20 years ago and has not repeated it since. He insisted that he is no danger to children or anyone and should be allowed to work. His wife always works with him in the booth.

Marjorie Paynter, 73, a grandmother from Jackson, agreed that Goluboff should be allowed to work.

"We have to stop pursuing people who have paid their debt to society," Paynter said.

FREEHOLD â¤" Convicted sex offenders are now banned from county-run facilities where children gather, including the parks and libraries.

The Monmouth County Board of Freeholders adopted a resolution Thursday prohibiting convicted sex offenders, who are required to register under Megan's Law, from entering or trespassing at county facilities. It also creates a maximum $200 fine with the possibility of up to 90 days in jail.

The action will affect more than 30 county parks visited by 4 million people each year and a county library system of 11 branches in Manalapan, Shrewsbury, Allentown, Colts Neck, Hazlet, Holmdel, Howell, Marlboro, Ocean Township, Oceanport and Wall.

Park rangers will be able to issue a summons if they determine that a convicted sex offender is using the county parks, said County Counsel Malcolm V. Carton. Library workers can also contact the sheriff's officers if they determine that a sex offender is using the library, Carton said.

The county can also seek an injunction to keep a convicted sex offender out of the libraries, Carton said. The person would face stiff penalties for violating the court order, he said.

"There is a huge need for our children to be protected and safeguarded," Freeholder William C. Barham said.

"Tonight we, the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders, took decisive action to put those who want to participate in that kind of conduct on notice that Monmouth County and all of our facilities will not tolerate that type of behavior," Barham said.

The county is also moving forward with its plans to create a screening process to bar convicted sex offenders from becoming vendors at the county fair, Carton said.

The action follows a revelation over the summer that a registered Tier 2 sex offender rented a booth to sell paintings and caricatures at the Ocean County Fair in Berkeley.

Israel Goluboff, 77, of the Whiting section of Manchester was convicted in Essex County in 1985 of aggravated sexual assault on a girl under age 13. He served six years at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Woodbridge and is on the state's Megan's Law Web site.

Goluboff also had rented a booth at the Monmouth County Fair but left the event after his past became public.

The county will require vendors seeking to rent space at the fair to declare on an application if anyone working at their booth is a convicted sex offender, Carton said. The new application also would make it clear that those who lie about their status as convicted sex offenders would be removed from the fair.

The application will also require the Social Security numbers and date of birth of everyone working at the booth to allow county officials to verify the information, Carton said.

"We are trying to tighten it up every way we can," Carton said.

"I was happy to see you passed the pedophile-free zone resolution," said Manalapan Township Committeewoman Rebecca Aaronson, a Democratic candidate for freeholder.

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Survivors ARE Heroes!

The Awareness Center believes ALL survivors of sex crimes should be given yellow ribbons to wear proudly.

Survivors of sexual violence (as adults and/or as a child) are just as deserving of a yellow ribbon as the men and women of our armed forces, who have been held captive as hostages or prisoners of war.

Survivors of sexual violence have been forced to learn how to survive, being held captive not by foreigners, but mostly by their own family members, teachers, camp counselors, coaches babysitters, rabbis, cantors or other trusted authority figures.

For these reasons ALL survivors of sexual violence should be seen as heroes!